5 Wk old stunted “Runt” Temperature tolerance

StephanieRose44

Songster
Nov 27, 2018
259
313
157
Fishkill NY
I hAve 12 chicks total ranging from 5-6 wks I just recently had to move my older birds out into a makeshift ( insulated )coop. Even though I was reluctant to do this I ended up putting 1 younger chick in who I though could handle it. She mostly hung around the older birds, she did fine. I was terrified. Lol the next day I had four 5 week olds left inside (one who is my runt) and 2 older 6 week old Silkies. I had originally wanted to wait a week or so until they feathered out more but it was beyond my control they literally HAD to be out of the house and outside. I’m looking out the window right now listening to My runt (Josephine’s) tiny peeps, she does normally do a lot of peeping because she’s always below the rest looking for crumbs until she can work her way up top, which she can she’s very feisty she’s not afraid of the bigger birds. But she’s more than half the size of chicks her age, this is her first night in the outdoor home. Will she and also Silkies be okay? I live in NY so it’s probably low 30s tonight. I have a heat lamp in there which has been working for the other birds but it’s just so cold.
 
I hAve 12 chicks total ranging from 5-6 wks I just recently had to move my older birds out into a makeshift ( insulated )coop. Even though I was reluctant to do this I ended up putting 1 younger chick in who I though could handle it. She mostly hung around the older birds, she did fine. I was terrified. Lol the next day I had four 5 week olds left inside (one who is my runt) and 2 older 6 week old Silkies. I had originally wanted to wait a week or so until they feathered out more but it was beyond my control they literally HAD to be out of the house and outside. I’m looking out the window right now listening to My runt (Josephine’s) tiny peeps, she does normally do a lot of peeping because she’s always below the rest looking for crumbs until she can work her way up top, which she can she’s very feisty she’s not afraid of the bigger birds. But she’s more than half the size of chicks her age, this is her first night in the outdoor home. Will she and also Silkies be okay? I live in NY so it’s probably low 30s tonight. I have a heat lamp in there which has been working for the other birds but it’s just so cold.
Can you post some photos of Josephine?

If you have space in the coop, you may want to add another feed station so she's not trying to fight her way in.
Only time will tell how well they all do together. How much space does your coop have (sq. ft), do they have an outside pen/run they can venture out into during the day?
 
Also what protein feed are you on? I had a few small chicks compared to my others when first purchased. I was on 18% and in order to get better growth of my smallest had to go to 20% starter grower or flockraiser if you have different ages of chickens. This helped tremendously and it corrected in 1-2 weeks and now they are fine. I corrected early so the longer this is left go the wider the gap and takes longer to correct. Make sure you have enough protein in the feed.
 
I had chicks out by three weeks old, they will be fine. I would turn off the heat lamp too. They are old enough to be without it. Do not think and worry about being warm, instead, make sure they are dry and out of the wind. They can then keep themselves warm.
 
It’s 20% crude protein, the Starter Feed there in now, should I switch them all to the grower feed or just Josephine? I am wondering if I should separate her... although they’ve been together and gotten along since they’ve been tiny. Josephine does hold her own, and I’m not worried about her being picked on. I put an extra smaller feed tray in there for her too she made it through the night, they came out for a bit during the day, she may have poked her head out but she seams to be doing okay out there Thankfully I couldn’t sleep!! Now my main focus is geting her to grow to be a normal healthy chick. Thank you to all who know and have experience with these stunted little chicks your advice is greatly appreciated !!

These are the most recent pictures I have of her right now since she left the indoor home. The first 3 (Red light) are just to to show the coloring on wing tips coming in and most recent photos.
Pic 4 is her first time outside about 2 or 3 weeks ago (it was warmer than by at least 25-30 degrees) THE COLOR OF HER LEGS , I could’ve sworn she had little yellow legs & I have no idea if they can change colors or not ( lol sry if that was a dumb thing to even state here)
Pic 5 COLOR OF HER LEGS AT A FEW DAYS MAYBE A WEEK OLD.
Pic 6 (red ligh sry) JUST TO SHOW HER SIZE COMPARISON though most of the chicks you see are pretty much all 1 week + obviously there’s just a little something not right about her size *last pic is also the first time she was able to perch on something off the ground lol
 

Attachments

  • 3D1C1EC9-80BA-49A5-9EA0-8E5FF85F4F0E.jpeg
    3D1C1EC9-80BA-49A5-9EA0-8E5FF85F4F0E.jpeg
    324.6 KB · Views: 9
  • 2E38EDB2-65F9-4658-9382-3DAC391B93D1.jpeg
    2E38EDB2-65F9-4658-9382-3DAC391B93D1.jpeg
    368.9 KB · Views: 7
  • 776BB723-6540-480C-B82C-EE43A66DEC29.jpeg
    776BB723-6540-480C-B82C-EE43A66DEC29.jpeg
    275.1 KB · Views: 9
  • 03796C0C-7717-40B9-AAE3-4C2C7096740D.jpeg
    03796C0C-7717-40B9-AAE3-4C2C7096740D.jpeg
    1.8 MB · Views: 8
  • E7A38078-D332-402C-8DE1-DA3DB28FF5D3.jpeg
    E7A38078-D332-402C-8DE1-DA3DB28FF5D3.jpeg
    401.1 KB · Views: 8
  • 8A893E95-3A56-40C5-9650-6AEA4652D9E2.jpeg
    8A893E95-3A56-40C5-9650-6AEA4652D9E2.jpeg
    333.7 KB · Views: 8
It’s 20% crude protein, the Starter Feed there in now, should I switch them all to the grower feed or just Josephine? I am wondering if I should separate her... although they’ve been together and gotten along since they’ve been tiny. Josephine does hold her own, and I’m not worried about her being picked on. I put an extra smaller feed tray in there for her too she made it through the night, they came out for a bit during the day, she may have poked her head out but she seams to be doing okay out there Thankfully I couldn’t sleep!! Now my main focus is geting her to grow to be a normal healthy chick. Thank you to all who know and have experience with these stunted little chicks your advice is greatly appreciated !!

These are the most recent pictures I have of her right now since she left the indoor home. The first 3 (Red light) are just to to show the coloring on wing tips coming in and most recent photos.
Pic 4 is her first time outside about 2 or 3 weeks ago (it was warmer than by at least 25-30 degrees) THE COLOR OF HER LEGS , I could’ve sworn she had little yellow legs & I have no idea if they can change colors or not ( lol sry if that was a dumb thing to even state here)
Pic 5 COLOR OF HER LEGS AT A FEW DAYS MAYBE A WEEK OLD.
Pic 6 (red ligh sry) JUST TO SHOW HER SIZE COMPARISON though most of the chicks you see are pretty much all 1 week + obviously there’s just a little something not right about her size *last pic is also the first time she was able to perch on something off the ground lol
I would leave them on Chick Starter until they begin laying eggs. That's me, but I feed a 20% all flock type feed year round, so I do things a bit different than some.
But for now they need the Chick Starter.

How long have you had Josephine? Any chance she is way younger than the others?
Sometimes one is a "runt" and catches up quick. All you can do is watch to see that she's eating/drinking well. If she is doing fine with the others for now, then I would leave her. Separation would cause her stress and then you would have to try to integrated a lone bird later on. Just monitor everything closely to make sure she is not getting picked on.
 
I’ve had her since she was a day old chick, I picked two of her breed type and the other bird that was in the same brood as she was they were both the same size as chicks but now the chick who’s supposedly her sibling is 3x her size and they look nothing alike.
 
I’ve had her since she was a day old chick, I picked two of her breed type and the other bird that was in the same brood as she was they were both the same size as chicks but now the chick who’s supposedly her sibling is 3x her size and they look nothing alike.
What breed is she supposed to be?
I should have saved the link, but did not - someone last year had a chick that looked like it was just a few weeks old for months! Suddenly it just started growing, feathered out and became a beautiful pullet, began laying, etc. Not sure what caused it, but all you can do is just keep doing like you are.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom